The black widow
by Liese13
Summary: This story is the sequel to "The next move, what's it gonna be?" but can be read separately if you really want to.Some strange deaths confuse Cole and Bekowsky who work homicide together again. The victims seemed to have died of vast fear. Had they really seen something like ghosts before they died? And is it even a case for homicide or could maybe something like curse be the cause
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, you convinced me :-) Here's my second LA Noire fanfic, which directly follows the first one. Have fun and let me see some reviews ;-)**

****Disclaimer: I do not own LA Noire or any of the game's characters. They're property of Rockstar games 

Cole followed Mason first to the weapons room where he was given a new service-weapon and then to the old briefing room. Bekowsky was already sitting inside wearing his finely-checked suit and clearly looking tense. "Cole, nice to see you back again." he greeted him without getting up. Cole sat down on the seat next to him. "You too Stefan, how are you?" "I'm alright..." "Sorry to interrupt you gentlemen but we have a case to work." intervened Mason stepping up to the small desk next to the door. "Three days ago two patrol-men were called to Pershing Square. A 50-year old man was found there dead. The coroner confirmed that he died of a heart attack but the man's colleque reported that he'd been behaving very strange that day. There weren't any further investigations though because his death seemed to be of natural cause. But this morning another body was found. The victim is Rebecca Black, secretary of a doctor Matthews. The doctor called it in this morning when he found her dead behind her desk. Said that she behaved odd, almost crazy when she arrived for work. I decided to make it a case for homicide, something's very wrong about these two deaths. Go and check it out!" Cole scribbled down the address of the crime-scene and shortly after, he and Bekowsky were on their way to the exit.  
His partner led Cole to a dark blue shining car. "Nice ride." "Thanks." Bekowsky smiled at him. "It's my own, had so save my money a long time for that one. I hope you don't mind if I drive I guess you should still keep it easy a bit." he pointed to his forehead. "I'm fine but sure you can drive. It's your car."

On their way to the crime scene they were keeping up some smalltalk. Stefan carefully asked him about his family and the events of the last investigation. Cole tried to answer everything as best he could because he wanted their partnership to be relaxed and honest as it had been when they were working the traffic desk together.

"And what happened to Rusty? The chief told me he's finally suspended because of his drinking problems." Stefan's expression became very grave. "I liked Rusty, it's a shame that thing turned out that way for him." He shot Cole a look and seemed to understand that he wanted to know the details. He sighed. "Alright...one morning he showed up with a hell of a hangover – that was pretty obvious. That was fine with me so far but when we followed a lead that led us into a bar he bolted around 4 Whiskeys. I don't know how much he drank exactly because I was in the back questioning a suspect but when we returned to the car he could barely speak understandable and still wanted to drive. Of course I didn't let him and tried to continue our investigation with him but he was completely useless. He just made dumb comments when we were interviewing suspects or witnesses and even offended one woman very badly. As soon as we were back at Hollywood station I reported it. I had to. I mean what would have happened if we'd gotten into a shooting or something? I would have been on my own." Stefan looked very uneasy. "No need to justiy this any futher, Stefan. You did the right thing." said Cole soothingly. "Truth is I also witnessed him drinking on duty but it never affected his work. Guess it was just a matter of time."

They remained silent for a few minutes. "You know, I was also there...at your funeral that day at Chichester Chapel. It was horrible...this asshole Roy Earle gave a speech about you talking about what a great man you've been and so on and that with half of the people in the church knowing how he betrayed you! In a church! Elsa almost went crazy and cursed him, she made quite a scene before she stormed out the building. You should've seen it." "Thanks for being there, Stefan..." said Cole with a low voice although it felt very strange.


	2. Chapter 2

10 minutes later they arrived at the crimscene. They were greeted by a young patrol-man who showed them the way. They stepped into the elevator and left it on the third floor. Then they had to walk along a long corridor and take the first door on the left. _Doctor Anthony Matthews, general medical practitioner _was written on it.

"Detectives" coroner Carruthers greeted them. "Carruthers" Cole nodded towards the man he'd met on so many different crimescenes. "I've already heard that they're sending you back to homicide." he then said with a neutral voice. Cole knew that he'd trown the good relationship with the coroner away the moment he'd cheated on his wife. Carruthers had told him what he thought about this story. "So what have we got here?" asked Cole quickly and took in his surroundings. He was in a rather small room which only contained the receptionist's desk and a black leather couch. The white walls were decorated with expensive looking art. Carruthers led them around the desk where the body lay. "Rebecca Black, 27 years old. Looks like cause of death is a heart-attack or a stroke, I can't be certain yet. But I have to add that a heart-attack is very unlikely for a woman of her age and health." "I see, and that's what makes this a homicide-case." "You shouldn't jump to any conclusions that fast. First I'll have to examine the body. I don't know why the captain wants you here." the coroner didn't appear to be convinced. "We'll have a look around!"  
Cole kneeled down next to the body. He had to admit that the lady was very attractive. She had long dark hair, a heart-shaped face and full lips. Cole shifted her head a little but couldn't find anything of interest. He checked the pockets of her blouse and hands, finding a wedding ring on the left. He stepped away from the body again. "She's married. We should go find her husband next." he glanced over to Bekowsky how was examining the victim's purse. He held a white silk tissue close to his face. "Looks expensive...you think a receptionist would invest in silk tissues?" he muttered. "Could be something...better check the rest of her things, I'll go and speak to the doctor. It was him who found her here?" "Yes, dectective." confirmed the patrolman. "This way." he led him into one of the treatment-rooms.

Doctor Matthews was sitting behind his desk looking pale and scared. He was an elderly man maybe around 56 years old wearing glasses and many wrinkles on his face. "Doctor Matthews? I'm with the LAPD, detective Phelps. I understand that you found Mrs. Black this morning?" "Yes, yes...she arrived around 8 as usual. She looked scared somehow, very scared. She wouldn't tell me what was bothering her though...I treated some patients and then I suddenly heard her screaming. I – I rushed back to her and she kept doing this..." He started waving his hands through the air looking as if he wanted to expell something that was flying around his head. She got panicky yelling something like "What do you want from me? Leave me alone!" I had to grab her by the shoulder to even make her realize me. I asked her what was wrong and she said..." Matthews stopped for a second, swallowing hard. "_Can't you see them? The ghosts, they're everywhere_!" I tried to calm her and gave her a very light sedative. It seemed to work a little. I told her to go home and rest but she really wanted to continue working so I let her. All seemed to be normal until I heard a loud bang about an hour ago now...then she just lay there and was dead. I have no idea what happened." he folded his shaking hands.  
"Was anybody else in the room when you found her?" "I didn't see one. We didn't have many patients today." "Okay...do you know if Mrs. Black had a personal vendetta with someone?" asked Cole observing the man closely. "No, I can't imagine something like that. She was such a nice girl, very busy and polite. Do you really think that someone killed her? How?" "I don't know yet, doctor. But I'll find out. What can you tell me about Mr. Black?" "Not much, I never met him." muttered Matthews staring at his hands. "I think you're hiding something...I need you to tell me everything you know, or otherwise you'll make yourself a suspect in this case!" said Cole raising his voice. "Alright, alright! His name is Martin Black. They've been married for about two years and I think they weren't happy together. Rebecca never mentioned anything concrete but she came to work looking sad very often." "Do you have the Black's address?" "Of course, one moment."

Some minutes later Cole returned to the lobby. "Found anything?" he asked Stefan. "Nothing of importance..." "I got the Black's address we should pay her husband a visit. I'll wait for your report, Carruthers." "You'll get it as soon as I'm finished..." replied the coroner sounding a bit annoyed. "Let's leave this place."

Cole told his partner everything he'd learned from the doctor as they made their way back to the car. "Ghosts? Are you kidding me?" said Stefan incredulously. "I know...I hope Carruther's will find something that could explain this." "Maybe that woman was simply nuts..." supposed Stefan as they got back into the car. "And just dropped to the ground dead?" asked Cole for consideration. Bekowsky started the engine and pinched the bridge of his nose for a second. "Is something wrong?" asked Cole who felt alerted. "Nah, it's just the perfume of the victim. It smelled very strong and heavy. She had it on that tissue. Uah I wonder how anybody could like that smell." He drove out onto the street. "Maybe you should let me drive?" suggested Cole who felt more and more concerned. "It's just a light headache, Cole. Don't make a fool of yourself. Better give me that address." Cole did so and remained silent for the drive. Maybe he was also beginning to act paranoid. But there was something about that case that just wasn't right.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey, thank you very much for following this story and marking it as a favorite :-) Makes me very happy. Hope you enjoy this chapter in which things are getting pretty dramatic and exciting ;-)**_

"Did you see that?" asked Stefan suddenly about ten minutes later. Cole had been lost in thought and listening to the smooth jazz playing on the radio and flinched slightly at his partners words. "No, what is it Stefan?" he asked insistent when his partner didn't immediately respond. "That shadow!" Bekowsky sounded scared – very scared. "No, there's nothing here. Listen, you better pull out here and stop the car. I can drive the rest of the way." Stefan ignored his words suddenly driving faster. "We have to get away, Cole. They're coming after us!" "There's no one here! Just you and me! Calm down!" Cole knew that whatever had happened to that poor woman was know happening to his partner. He tried to think of a fast solution for their situation. Other drivers already started honking at them because Stefan drove more and more reckless. He took a right turn without slowing down, the tires squeaked fretfully. "You'll get us killed! Stop the damn car, Stefan!" he tried to look him in the eyes and found sheer panic in them.  
Then he suddenly took his hands off the steering-wheel waving them trough the air in front of his face just like Matthews had demonstrated. "Get away from me!" he yelled and Cole quickly grabbed the wheel to prevent them from crashing into the next lantern. "You're hallucinating! What you see isn't real!" he tried to bring Stefan to his senses but it didn't work. He just drove faster, eyes wide and breathing very fast. Cole pursed his lips. If he didn't act fast his partner would maybe end up like Rebecca Black with his heart failing. He couldn't let that happened. Cole decided to do the only thing possible in the situation. He reached out with his left arm and knocked Stefan out with a fast blow to the back of his head.  
His partner lost conscious immediately and his upper body slipped towards the steering-wheel. The problem was that they were still driving and that very fast. Cole still had a hold of the wheel but he couldn't reach the pedals because Stefan's body was in the way. He stared out the window feeling his own heart pounding heavily. There were pedestrians everywhere and the car was about to slide on the pavement even though he pulled the wheel around. He was about to loose control of the vehicle it was only a matter of seconds. The only way out without hurting anybody was an empty pathway leading god knows where. He managed to steer towards it and sighed a little as the car finally slipped through. No more people around that the car could hurt. He now concentrated on shifting his foot on the brake but there just wasn't enough space.  
He looked out the window again and suddenly realized where they were going. They were on one of the city's hills, he could see the skyline in front of him. "SHIT!" he yelled still trying to reach the pedals. _The handbrake! _Suddenly came to his mind. He grabbed the plastic pin and pushed it up violently. Another squeaking of the tires could be heard, followed by a loud _CRACK_. Cole stared horrified at the broken plastic piece of the brake in his hand. There was no other way out as the car rushed towards the vein of the hill with around 60 hp. And then all of a sudden they were flying. Every noise seemed to be shut down and Cole could only hear his own breathing and the heart pounding in his chest. The moment protracted in a strange way and Cole could see trees and buildings passing by. Then he threw himself over the limp body of his partner to protect him right before the car crashed to the ground. Then everything went dark.

He could have only been out for some seconds or minutes. When he came to again he could feel something hard and cold pressing against his back. He turned around a bit and saw that it was the car's roof which had bent down during the impact. Cole let out a growl. He could feel sharp pain but couldn't locate yet where it came from. He looked down at Bekowsky who seemed to be unharmed. Cole tried to shift into a sitting position again and reached out for the radio transceiver. "KGPL, this is car 11K, KGPL please respond!" there was a hissing sound for some moments until a female voice answered. "This is KGPL, 11K go ahead." "I need an ambulance but uhm, I don't quite know where we are. We had an accident. Drove down one of the hills, I think it's the one near 2nd street." "Roger on the ambulance, 11K. Stay put!" Cole put the transceiver away and had to groan again. He tried to open the door but it was blocked. He had to stay where he was and wait for the ambulance. He was trapped. The image of a burned and torn up body next to him came to his mind and Cole could feel cold sweat forming on his forehead. _This is not Okinawa _he kept reminding himself. _Do not panic, your partner is gonna be alright, it's not gonna happen again_. The pain intensified and he drifted off again.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Hey, thanks for your kind reviews :-) Here you go with a longer chapter sooner than I planned to post it** ;-)_

"Sir, detective can you hear me?" He woke with a start. A young paramedic stared at him through the shattered window. "Yes, yes. Please get me outta here!" "Are you injured?" "I don't know!" _But I think so considering I fell down that damn hill I can't be completely healthy! _He added in thoughts a bit annoyed. "Don't move, we'll try to open the door!" Another paramedic appeared holding something like a huge claw. "My partner's unconscious. You should pull him out first." suggested Cole through clenched teeth as he again tried to shift in a more comfortable position. The paramedic looked at him with a strange expression on his face. "Honestly sir, from the looks of it we should really get you out there first." What was he talking about? A few minutes passed until the men finally managed to rip the door off the vehicle. Cole could hear the paramedics whisper to each other. "Be careful with his back." "Damn, that's really a lot of blood. You think the roof sticks somewhere?" "Can't be certain. Let's do this..."

Then they turned towards him. "Sir, we need you to stay calm and hold as still as possible now." "Of course." The first part of him the men could reach were his legs that were closest to the door. "We're gonna pull now, if you get the feeling that you're stuck somewhere, tell us immediately." Cole just nodded. He couldn't think straight any longer. All he wanted was to get out of this damn scrap heap. The men started pulling him out, inch per inch. They worked very slowly and carefully. Cole could finally locate the pain, it clearly came from his back.  
A few moments later he was out. The paramedics moved him directly from the car onto a gurney. "Alright, I'll check you for injuries while my collegue takes care of your partner" told him one of the men. "It's ok, I think I can sit up..." Cole was about to get up when he felt a strong arm holding him down. "I'm sorry sir, but I want you to lay still for now. Your back is injured." Cole heard a ripping sound and knew that another suit of him was now ruined. The cold breeze on his back told him that the paramedic had removed the fabric from it. Some seconds passed in silence while he could feel the other one examining his back. Eventually he moved forward and kneeled down next to him so that Cole could see his face. "You're a very lucky man, detective. The wounds on your back are only superficial but bleeding massively. The roof of the car came down during the impact and collided with your body. This could have ended much worse for you. We'll get you to central receiving to get you stitched up and checked for other injuries." "What about Bekowsky?" Cole tilted his head so that he was able to look in the other direction where the second stretcher stood. The other paramedic was already pulling his partner's limp body towards it. "Dewey, that one's unharmed as far as I can see. Still unconscious though." he called over to them. "Alright, let's get away from here."

"Wow, I really don't know what to think of this." Brian Mason paced up and down in front of Cole's bed. He sat there with bare upper body while a doctor cleaned and bandaged the huge cuts on his back. He oppressed rolling his eyes. He felt dizzy and exhausted and he was worried about Bekowsky. "I sent you two out to work this case and within two hours you almost get yourselves killed." "Sir, I need to speak the coroner. I've got important information for him. He'll need this for Rebecca Black's autopsy!" Mason sighed. "Okay, I'll go and get him. But we'll discuss that matter later." What exactly was there to discuss? Mason left to enter the Central police station next to the hospital. "Is Detective Bekowsky awake yet?" he asked the doctor. "Not that I know of." was his short answer as he put more of the smarting substance on his torn up skin. Cole pursed his lips. That day had started so good but right now it couldn't get worse. The doctor was finally finished with him and Cole had now bandages wrapped around his whole upper body. "I want you to put ointment on the wounds, at least three times a day. If you do that regulary there'll be a chance that no scars remain. You got someone who could help you with that?" The doctor handed him a small can. "Yes..." answered Cole, thinking of Elsa. He should call her when he got the chance.

"Detective, you wanted to tell me something?" Curruthers had entered the room. "Yes. The tissue..." "I don't quite understand..." "Sorry..." Cole tried to sort his thoughts and put them in proper sentences. "You need to check that silk tissue in the victim's purse. Bekowsky checked it on the crimescene and later told me that it smelled strange. He thought that it had just been a strong perfume but after that these hallucinations kicked in. He was behind the wheel and this is how we ended up like this...he started showing all the sympthoms that Dr. Matthews had detected on Rebecca Black and the only chance I saw for saving him from a heart attack was knocking him out. There's gotta be a suspicious chemical substance on that tissue. One that creates hallucinations or something like that maybe you and Pinker can figure it out." Carruthers had listened to him with a very serious look on his face. "Thanks for that information, it could in fact be very important." he then stepped up to him and gently placed a hand on Cole's shoulder. "Try to take it easy now, would you?" he looked a bit concerned. "From what I've heard you saved your partners life today, I guess that's enough heroic deed for one day." Cole had to smile a little. "I'm not sure if this drug still affects Bekowsky...Could you maybe check up on him? They won't let me see him." "I'll do my best, Phelps."

He'd just swallowed two aspirins against the vicious pain on his back when his partner finally showed up. His face was a bit pale but all in all he looked perfectly healthy. "Guess I missed the show..." he said leaning against the door-frame of the small room. "Be happy about it...we should be glad to still be alive. But do you feel any remains of this drug or whatever it was?" Bekowsky suddenly looked very serious. "Just a little head-ache but no crazy hallucinations if that's what you mean. That was one of the scariest things I've ever experienced." he rubbed the back of his head where Cole supposed to be a big bump. "I'm sorry about that one...but I didn't see another way to prevent you from dehydrating or else..." "No problem, really. I guess I have to thank you, Cole. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't done that. Are you in pain?" Cole shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing that can't be cured with some aspirins." "Looks bad though...the doctor told me you were covered in blood when they found you. Guess you'll need a new shirt? I think I got an extra one in my locker. You can have that for today." "Thanks, Stefan. What are we gonna do next?" "Pay Mr. Black a visit like we planned to? Only if you feel up to it..." he observed Cole with a skeptical look. "I've had worse...let's do this. If we're dealing with a series-killer there's no time to waste."


	5. Chapter 5

"What? You can't just leave now, Detective!" interrupted the doctor who'd been standing in the corner of the room while they were talking. "You lost a lot of blood, Mister. You should be resting." Cole and Bekowsky both shot him a look. The doctor raised his hands in defeat. "Alright, none of you guys ever listens to me anyways."

A few minutes later they were back on the road in one of the LAPDs black cars that looked just like the one they'd used while working the traffic desk. Cole was behind the wheel this time. He'd insisted because he didn't really trust Bekowsky's accountabilty yet. But driving was difficult since he couldn't lean back against the seat 'cause it was simply too painful for his back. He figured that his position looked pretty strange and awkward at the moment but he honestly didn't care.  
"I'm sorry for what happened to your car..." he tried to get a conversation going. "It looked bad." "Yeah I guess so, although I didn't see it. Maybe it's better that way, it could have broken my heart." Stefan chuckled a bit. "But the chief promised me that the LAPD would pay for the repairs since the accident happened on the job. Said there's an insurance for these cases..." "They better improve the roof...but that's very fair of him." Cole had to admit that he really started to like Mason. "Jup, Mason's a good man."

They arrived at the address only about 20 minutes later. It was a nice white apartment house in a quiet neighborhoud. "Let's check this place out!" Bekowsky seemed to be very enthusiastic and walked ahead while Cole followed him more slowly. He still felt a bit dizzy because of the blood loss he'd suffered. They stepped up into the entry hall of the building. Cole quickly studied the sign next to the stairwell. "It's apartment 4." They ascended the stairs and quickly found the right door. Cole pounded his fist against it. Some seconds passed. "Maybe he's not home..." suggested Bekowsky. "Where should he be? His wife just died!"

"Who's this?" came suddenly a low voice from inside. "LAPD, sir. We need to speak to you." The door finally opened. Mr. Black was a tall man looking like a well-trained sportsman. He wore his brown hair very short in an almost military manner. He was wearing jeans and a polo-shirt. "Whatcha want?" something about his pronunciation was strange. "I'm detective Phelps and this is my partner Bekowsky. We'd like to ask you some questions concerning your wife's death." "What's there to talk about? Told me it was a heart-attack." he simply stated followed by a hiccup. Suddenly Cole could also smelled the strong scent of alcohol the man emitted. He exchanged a look with Bekowsky who'd also realized it. This was gonna get difficult. "May we come in?" Black only made an indifferent gesture with his right arm showing them inside. Cole and Stefan stepped in.  
The appartment was small but nice decorated. It was obvious that a woman with a nice taste had selected the furniture. Black slumped down in an armchair. Cole and Bekowsky took a seat on the coach in front of it. "Mr. Black, we have reasons to believe that your wife was exposed to some kind of drug which may have led to her death. Do you know anything about that?" The man didn't respond and just kept staring at his hands. Then he reached out to the sidetable to grab a bottle of whiskey of which he then took a huge sip. "No offense, sir but I think you've got enough of that." said Cole carefully, stood up and tried to wrench the bottle away from him. But Black was fast and held the bottle close to his chest as if it was his newborn child. Cole sighed and sat back again. "Mr. Black, please collaborate or otherwise we'll have to take you downtown." Again he got no response at all.  
"Cole, that fella is dead drunk. I don't think we'll get anything useful out of him now." whispered Bekowsky to his right. But Cole wasn't willing to give it up yet. "We got no time for this!"

He stood up again, grabbed the man by the shoulder and pulled him to the door that had the word _bathroom _written on it. "Cole what are you doing?" called Stefan behind him. Black didn't even defend himself against Cole's firm grip and let him drag him into the bathroom. Cole violently shoved him into the shower and turned on the cold water. He then quickly stepped away to not get himself wet and waited. The ice-cold water poured down on the dazed man and he started to wake a little more. "What – what are you doing man?" he stammered. "Mr. Black, do you think you can answer some questions now?" asked Cole who really wanted to end these stupid games. The man suddenly started to look very desperate. "It's my fault!" he suddenly cried out. "What is you fault?" "That she's dead!" "Did you kill her?" "No...no it wasn't me but...I may have engaged someone..." Black stared at his hands again. "You wanted your wife dead?" Black pulled his knees up to his chin, slinged his arms around the legs and started to shift for- and backwards. "Mr. Black!" yelled Cole but the man didn't respond. He suddenly felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Let him be, Cole. We should take him to the station to get him sobered up." said Stefan soothingly. "But we need these answers now, Stefan!" replied Cole who still wasn't willing to give the interrogation up. "Who did you engage, Mr. Black? Give us a name or you'll be in serious trouble!" but the man only continued to shift around in the shower cabin without saying a word. "I'll call it in and have a black and white pick him up..." said Bekowsky and left the room.

Cole had to accept that he wouldn't be getting another proper sentence from Black for some time. Frustrated he turned off the shower and brought Black back into the living room. He placed him into the armchair again and sat down on the couch to observe him while Bekowksky went down to the car to call for backup. "You're in serious trouble, Mister. Who did you engage and what kind of drug did this person use?" he made one last attempt to get the other man to speak. But he just kept staring on the floor, wide-eyed and shaking his head. "Listen if you give me a name I might be able to lessen the charges pressed against you." Still no response. Cole sighed. "If you want it the hard way, you can get it..." Stefan returned about five minutes later. "Reinforcement's on the way. Guess we'll have to sit that one out."

They had sat there in silence for about ten minutes when they suddenly heard a knocking on the door. Bekowsky raised his eyebrows. "Wow, that was fast..." he stood up to open the door for the policemen. Cole stayed where he was not letting their suspect out of sight. "Wha – who are you?" "Bekowsky, LAPD. Mind telling me what you want here?" Then all of a sudden there was the sound of a loud punch. Cole jumped to his feet and was by his partner's side within seconds. Stefan held a hand against his bleeding nose. "Get him, Cole! I'll keep an eye on Black!"


	6. Chapter 6

_**Here's another chapter for you for christmas. I hope you still like my little story and wish you a merry christmas :-)**_

Cole ran out the door and could only make out the silhouette of a very tall and lean man, wearing gray clothes heading towards the exit. "LAPD, freeze!" He followed the guy out onto the porch and through the backyard. The other guy jumped over the fence which seperated the property from the neighbours. "Don't make me chase you!" Cole called out as he himself jumped over the fence. His hurt ankle smarted when he hit the ground but he ignored the pain. That man might be their only lead in this case.  
Soon they reached the mainstreet and crossed a crowded junction what caused many cars to hit the brakes. On the other side of the street the man turned right to run down an alleyway with Cole hot on his heels. It turned out that it was a blind alley. The man came to a halt in front of the huge backwall of a building. Cole could see that his opponent was quite young and quickly searching for a way out of the situation. Cole drew his gun. "It's over! Stay where you are." "Okay, okay! But I didn't do anything..." "Right and that's why you punched my partner and ran away from me. You'll have to answer some question down at Central station."

He led the fugitive back to the Black's residence where an LAPD transport van had already arrived. Two officers were just about to take Black in it. The man couldn't even walk properly any longer. "Take that one with you as well." called Cole while shoving the cuffed man towards them. "We'll follow you back to central station to question him." he met Stefan by the car.  
"You don't look so well, partner." said Bekowsky while walking towards the driver's seat. "Take a brake, I'll drive." "You sure about that?" Cole inquired who still felt suspicious about the drug. But Stefan hadn't shown any sign of the effects the last hour. And he did in fact feel very exhausted after the hunt with sharp pain racing through his leg and back. He sat down on the passenger's seat reaching out for the aspirins in his pocket. "You sure you shouldn't sit this one out? I guess Mason would find another partner for me until you've fully recovered." said Stefan while tailing the police transporter. "I'm okay. Listen, you don't need to worry. You can still depend on me, I managed to trace down that runner to turn him in and it's fine, Stefan. I won't let you down." he muttered and swallowed two more pills. But Cole wasn't dumb. He knew that the strongest reason for his strenuous work on the case was that he could find distraction in it. Distraction from his complicated and broken privat-life. And although he was aware of the cowardly act he just couldn't change it.

"Phelps, we're there." Cole startled heavily. He hadn't realized that he'd dozed off sometime on the drive. "Right." he quickly rubbed his eyes. At least the effects of the painkillers had finally kicked in. They got off the car and walked towards the receptionist's desk. "Ah detectives. They're taking Black to a cell to sober up and the other guy's waiting for you in interview room 2." "Thanks."

They entered the interview room and took a seat in front of the frightened looking man. "What's your name?" asked Cole while pulling out his notebook and pen. "Benjamin Wright." "Age?" "22, sir." In the immediate proximity to Wright Cole detected some dirt on his face and realized that his messy dark blond hair almost reached his shoulder. His trousers and shirt looked very frowzy as well. "So what's your relationship to Martin Black, Mr. Wright?" "I, I only do the deliveries. I visited Mr. Black to pick up the money for my principal." "So you're the connection between clients and the killer." stated Cole, closely observing Wright's reaction. "What?" the young man called out. "Killer?" he looked horrified. It appeared that the young man didn't even know who he was working for. "Yeah, the killer. We're currently working the case of Rebecca Black's death. She died this morning and we have reason to believe that she was poisoned with a drug. Mr. Black admitted to have engaged someone to drug his wife but he's currently too drunk be be questioned any further." "That's why we have to deal with you first." added Bekowsky. "You're in serious trouble my friend."  
Wright suddenly looked very pale. "But I didn't know he's a killer. My god! You have to believe me! I don't wanna go to jail...this guy...he offered me 20 percent of the money if I delivered messages between him and Mr. Black. Today was supposed to be my last tour. I just needed the money..." "Give us a name! Who's your principal?" "I don't know his full name...we only had contact via letters and a few conversations on the phone...he used to sign the letters with _Blake_. But I can't tell you more..." "So why did you run away back at Black's apartment, genius? And why the hell did you punch a policeman? That really hurt, asshole!" said Bekowsky angrily. "I was scared when I met you there...I kinda had the feeling that buisness with this Blake guy was shady in a way." "But still you decided to work for him?" inquired Cole. "I really needed the money! I just lost my job and was very close to loosing my apartment. I had no choice!" called Wright his voice sounding desperate. "One always has a choice!" stated Cole strictly and realized that he was in fact yelling.  
He took some deep breaths to calm himself and continued with a much lower voice: "I can help you out of this situation but only if you give me something to go on. Do you have any address on this guy?" "He gave me an address that I was supposed to use for our correspondations..." "Spill it, Wright!" interrupted Cole him and could feel his patience fading. "Alright, alright! It's Figerola street number 10. That's all I can tell you I swear it." Cole quickly wrote down the address. "Okay, kid. We'll go and check this out. You'll stay here until we know that your information's valid. Someone will come and officially take your statement."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hey guys, this is a very long story and there's still a lot to come. I would really like to know how you like it and whether anyone still reads is at all...otherwise it's kinda hard to upload new chapters for me...I hope you understand ;-)**_

He and Bekowsky left central station again after the receptionist had promised them to call them via KGPL as soon as Black was in the right state for an interrogation. Stefan placed himself behind the steering-wheel again. "Let's check this out...you think that guy really lives there?" "Hard to tell..." muttered Cole. "If he's a professional, he's propably just using the address for his mailing." "But even in this case he would need to check it out today because he expects Black's payment." detected Stefan furrowing his brow. "If the odds are in our favor we may find him there."

It was already early noon when they arrived at the address. It turned out to be a small and sleazy house. The white colour had peeled off the walls on various parts and some bricks of the roof appeared to be missing. "Well that's not really the nicest place to live...even for a criminal." commented Stefan as they walked down the small path leading up to the house. A yellow sign was taped on the rusted door. It said U_nstable, danger, do not enter_. The detectives exchanged a look. "You really wanna go in there?" asked Stefan who didn't look convinced. "We should definitely take a closer look...there may be something inside that could tell us more about this Blake character." Cole attempted to open the door and found it unlocked. That was great because in this case they could maintain some semblance of order and Blake wouldn't immediately realize that someone had entered the building.  
Stefan closed the door behind them. "Okay you better stay here by the window to watch out for Blake while I take a look around..." suggested Cole. "Alright, but better be careful...the floor looks pretty fragile to me." Cole started to oberserve the room. They were standing in the living-room area. A torn-up coach was standing next to the door. The wall behind it was painted in a very ugly shade of green. On a small desk were lying some old newspapers, an ashtray and a withered plant. Nothing of any interest. The same in the kitchen. Everything in there was very dirty and dusty and clearly looked as if no one's been in there for quite a long time. The air smelled he came back in the living room and onto the small corridor leading to the other rooms he could suddenly hear a loud _CRACK _and felt the wooden floor burst under his feet. He was suddenly trapped in the floor with his right foot sunken into it up to his knee. He managed to climb out of the small hole and stumbled back on his feet again. "You okay, Cole?" called Stefan from the living room. "Yes...but you were right about the floor." He proceeded to walk down the corridor carefully examining the floor for more rotten wood parts and genuely skirting around them. The next room on the left was a bedroom. The bed was very dusty as well. There were barely any clothes in the cupboard only a men's hat and tie were lying on the floor of it.

He also checked the remaining rooms, a small bathroom and a second bedroom – without finding anything interesting. He went back to join Stefan in the living-room. "Nothing interesting in here...did you see something suspicious?" "Nah, not really. There was only a woman passing the building a few minutes ago. Ah, there she is again." Cole also stared trough the dirty glass of the window. The slim figure of a woman came walking in his vision from the right side. She seemed to look their way and both detectives quickly ducked down under the window.

Cole carefully glanced out from his hiding-place. "What's she doing?" Cole squinted his eyes. "She might be checking the mailbox...yes, definitely. Let's get her!" The two of them jumped to their feet and burst out the house, almost ripping out the door in the process. "LAPD, freeze!" called Cole while drawing his gun. To his suprise the woman didn't attempt do run away, she just stood there raising her hands. "Please don't shoot me, officers!" she called out but Cole got the impression that she wasn't scared or bothered at all. "Detectives Phelps and Bekowsky, mam. I'm afraid we need to take you to central station for further questioning." He could now also make out her features. She appeared to be around 40 years old, with long brown hair she wasn't wearing pinned up in contrast to most women her age. Some strands of grey were mixed up in it. The woman's clothes looked very elegant and expensive. Could that really be the person they were looking for? "But why, detective? I didn't do anything." she said looking him straight in the eyes. "We caught you lurking around the mailbox of this house. This address popped up in a homocide-investigation." explained Bekowsky. The woman's eyes widened in surprise. "Homicide? My god!" She was good, very good but still Cole didn't buy her act of dismay. "What's your name, mam?" "Lyan. Lyan Mayweather." "Alright, Miss Mayweather, we saw you checking that mailbox here so no need to deny it."  
She looked up to him with remarkable green eyes. "Okay but that's very embarrassing for me...I thought that I could maybe find something valuable in it. Do you have an idea what kinds of things people order these days?" The expression of slight embarrassment on her face looked very convincing, this woman really was a good actor. "You seriously don't look like a woman who needs to steal things from mailboxes." stated Cole. "And this address clearly doesn't look as if the owner's rich either. You're coming with us to central station." he firmly grabbed her arm. "No sonny. There's no reason..." she tried to free herself. "Stefan, cuff her. We're taking her with us."


End file.
